Hot Topics:

Letters to the Editor - Sept. 3

Posted:
09/03/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT

GMO crops

A bleak outlook

of health effects

O ur county commissioners have been bamboozled. They want to believe that the biotech industry is telling us the truth about the safety of their crops. Monsanto, which has a monopoly on the seeds and is buying up seed companies at an alarming rate, is killing our bees, contaminating native and organic crops and polluting our environment. These crops are a hazard to our health and the health of our children.

If we want our organic farmers to be able to make a living we need to stop the county commissioners from allowing the biotech industry, which patens, thus owns the seeds of their crops, to invade our open space.

Monsanto has told us that DDT, Agent Orange, Dioxin and Aspartame were safe. They are telling us the same thing about GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Their new life forms were created to withstand herbicides. The herbicides are then liberally sprayed around the crops like corn, soybeans, alfalfa, etc. Alfalfa is then fed to our livestock.

These new genes then live in our bodies. A new species has been created. It has crossed the plant to human barrier and is now living in our gut. This new genetic organism is now being studied in Washington. It is so new that it doesn't have a name. We are the hosts of this new organism. It contains insecticides and other harmful agents and turns on a gene that encourages cells to divide. In 20 or 30 years our young people will develop cancer and Parkinson's disease, etc. These genes are programmed to divide but they are not programmed to stop dividing.

Advertisement

More and more herbicides are spread around the crops; for over time the weeds develop a resistance to them. Do we want more herbicides, health hazards and insecticides on our open space? We live in Boulder to coexist with nature not destroy it.

Preserve the natural order. Cross contamination of our plants is insidious. It will destroy organic farming in Boulder County, create pollution of our soil, air and water and kill our bees. Speak up citizens of Boulder County. Tell our county commissioners that Monsanto has lied to us before and is lying to us now.

Tell them that we do not want to live in a world with synthetic organisms growing in our body. Tell them to Google: Monsanto, herbicides. Tell them that we do not want to live in a sea of pesticides. Tell them that this is our public land and should be preserved in its natural state. Tell them not to be so gullible.

JUDY DENBERG

Boulder

Wasps

Humane deterrents

to keep bugs away

I t's that time of year when I relish nightly walks knowing that fall and cooler temperatures are not so far off. Unfortunately, my walks are often spoiled when I see wasps frantically trying to escape the yellow torture tubes that hang from many neighborhood trees in Boulder.

Fortunately, there are great alternatives to the yellow traps, which attract wasps to people's yards only to be caught and starved to death. There are two products sold at McGuckins that deter rather than attract wasps. One is called "The Waspinator" and the other is "Bee-Free Natural Wasp Deterrent." They work on the principle that wasps are territorial and won't build a nest near other wasps' nests.

They see what they think is another wasp nest and avoid your yard. Both are inexpensive and don't require messy refill packets of wasp attractant. I've given them to a number of friends and everyone is amazed at how well they work. So I ask the humane and eco-conscious in Boulder to switch over to the compassionate option for keeping wasps away.

BARBARA BEAR

Boulder

Labor Day

The right to

negotiate a union

T he year 2011 marks a tumultuous year for workers' rights. With millions of Americans struggling just to make ends meet, our leaders should be protecting the workplace rights that made our communities and our economy strong, not tearing them down.

So it's a relief to see a positive development for workers in time for Labor Day. The National Labor Relations Board, an independent agency charged with safeguarding workers' rights, has taken a step in the right direction with a proposed rule that would ensure employees have a fair vote on whether to form a union.

But instead of focusing on the economy, corporate-backed politicians are attacking the NLRB -- playing the same old political games Americans are tired of.

By coming together as a union, workers can negotiate for fair pay and family-supporting benefits. And that's exactly what we need to get the middle class -- and our economy -- back on track.

WILLIAM ATKINSON

Boulder

Military

Reinstate the draft

to stop suicides

A merican soldiers are committing suicide in record numbers (average 18 per day) due to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and multiple deployments. A soldier recently committed suicide to avoid being deployed for the ninth time.

Maybe we need to have a conversation about reinstating the draft. Currently, only 1 percent of the population bears the burdens of war -- these wars have been beneath the radar of most Americans. Just because these brave men willingly volunteer doesn't make it right that they (and their families) bear the total costs. Volunteers can do other jobs besides combat.

Our politicians, (of whom most don't have any loved ones serving -- and if they do -- they often get special treatment) send our brave and honorable troops to these political wars disregarding their humanity. In fact, the current COIN doctrine doesn't even consider troop deaths when measuring "success."

Perhaps if more of the population were involved, we wouldn't be engaging in these wars in the first place. And since we never actually declared war on Afghanistan, this is just a construction project, right? With all the deaths that have taken place, why hasn't OSHA shut it down yet?

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story